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At the marginally inconvenient time of midnight GMT on Thursday, the first match begins in what looks like a fascinating four-game Test series between Australia and India.

On one side are the hosts: still struggling to resurrect themselves after a ball-tampering scandal that robbed them of their two best batsmen and most senior figures. On the other are the No 1-ranked team in world cricket, who have continually failed to prove themselves against the best nations away from home.

Why should you be interested?

Stop talking a big game and deliver

For all that India are the team to beat in world cricket at the moment, their record in Australia is abysmal. They have never won a Test series there, claiming victory in just five of the 44 Test matches they have played on Australian soil.

Their talismanic captain Virat Kohli takes particular affront to suggestions that his side cannot cut it overseas, and yet results continue to go against him. The narrative was similar ahead of their last two trips to leading Test nations and still they left South Africa (1-2) and England (0-4) with series defeats.

Guided and inspired by Kohli, this Indian side has a different air about it to those from previous eras - a feeling that they are capable of beating any side, anywhere in the world. Well, this is an opportunity they simply have to take. Australia, for the first time in a long while, do not look like one of the best sides in the world and India have to follow through on their talk.

On the flip side, if Australia can somehow whitewash their opponents and claim a 4-0 series victory they will climb above them to move from fifth to first in the Test rankings. Just a single draw for India would be enough to see them remain top.

India's seamers are better than ever

One of the main reasons (aside from the brilliance of Kohli) for such hope in India's camp is the strength of their seam bowling attack. Not only is it arguably their strongest ever seam collective, but Kohli reckons it is the best group of pacemen in the world. The statistics suggest he is almost correct.

In almost four years of Test cricket, India's seamers have the second best bowling average behind South Africa. Add in spinners as well (likely to be the sole figure of Ravi Ashwin for this series) and the Indians have never travelled to Australia in better shape:

India's bowling average in the last two years of 25.20 is their lowest ever in the two years before a Test series in Australia & the fifth lowest of any team to visit Australia since 1988. @CricViz#AUSvINDpic.twitter.com/efVZgAecBh

India's first-choice three-man pace attack will consist of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah. The first two have not previously enjoyed great success in Australia, but have displayed significant improvement in recent years - Shami averages 26.09 since the start of 2017, compared to a Test average of 32.60 before that date; Sharma has taken his wickets at 26.36 in the past two years, compared to 36.47 prior.

It is the third man, Bumrah, who could form the most crucial part of India's pace armoury though. The stiff-armed seamer is only six Tests into his career but already has five-wicket hauls against South Africa and England, with 28 wickets at 25.57. His numbers in white-ball cricket for India date back further to the start of 2016 and are astonishing: an ODI average of 21.01 and a T20I average of 20.47.

Where are Australia's runs coming from?

There is another reason India's seamers will be buzzing with excitement ahead of Thursday's opening match: Australia's weak batting line-up.

It is no surprise the Australians have struggled to recover from the loss of two titans in Steve Smith and David Warner - the senior pair who shouldered the burden of responsibility for years prior to their ball-tampering bans.

In their absence, Australia's batting line-up looks woefully inexperienced, more so in fact than at any point for 40 years:

Australia's top seven for the first Test of Finch, Harris, Khawaja, S Marsh, Handscomb, Head & Paine have played a total of 101 Tests between them - this makes it Australia's least experienced top seven in their 429 Tests since World Series Cricket. #AUSvINDpic.twitter.com/soIyrUCYR1

Personnel changes have been a frequent feature of the Australian top-order in recent years and it has continued ahead of this first Test with vice-captain Mitchell Marsh dropped for Peter Handscomb and Marcus Harris given his debut opening the batting.

For Usman Khawaja there is also the added worry of attempting to focus on cricket just two days after his brother was charged with allegedly faking a terror plot to frame a university colleague.

There is almost no one in that top seven without a point to prove and the likes of Shaun Marsh could see themselves hastily jettisoned with further failures early in the series. Conversely, the opportunity is there for any of them to make a big mark relatively early in their careers.

Firepower in abundance

If Australia's batting line-up looks vulnerable, their bowlers are the opposite. In Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, they possess three of the most feared seam bowlers in world cricket.

The trio possess all the attributes required of international pace bowlers, with Hazlewood consistently showing the Glenn McGrath-like unerring accuracy that could just disrupt the free-flowing strokeplay of Kohli and his fellow Indian batsmen. If it doesn't then pace might.

Just last month Starc averaged a terrifying 94.5mph in his opening spell during an ODI against South Africa and he has shown no let up in training this week, striking Finch on the finger with one brutish ball that rose sharply at the opening batsman.

As Mitchell Marsh said after that incident: "If you get out of our net sessions and you're not injured, you've had a great net."

Add in the dependable spinner Nathan Lyon and there should be no let up for the Indian batsmen.

This man is playing

A few years ago Kohli was one of the best batsmen in the world. Now there can be no doubting he is the best batsman in the world. He is a colossus. He exudes charisma, and this week he did this in the nets: